I Wanna Kick Some Ass. But Whose?

So I have been having more "fun", trying to get Linux to work on my new Pavilion box.

Redhat Enterprise Linux AS 64bit gives this error when booting on the HP Pavilion a1600n:

...MP-BIOS bug: 8254 timer not connected to IO-APIC

I got past that by booting with noapic, but I cannot partition the disc, since it is not seen by the kernel.

On the other hand, Suse 9.3 boots but does not recognize the DVD drive after that.

As of now the bets are on Suse 10.2... Fingers crossed... It is installing...

Seems to me that Linux distros are quite challenged in the 64-bit space. It could've been worse though, better be bitter for spending $500 on a piece of hardware that Linux does not support well rather than spending $3000... But the worst thing is that I want to frigging yell at someone, call them names, and... I do not know who the culprit is? HP? The given distros that I am trying to install?

Here's an interesting business idea: open a call center in Romania, hire some cave men to answer the phone, but not give any customer support, just listen while they are being yelled at and insulted.

Last edit: the network card on the Pavilion a1600n died last night, a mere week in service. Conclusion: I am taking it back to FRYS and have them make lemonade.